email on aging. One for members

[El Presidente]

 

One for you guys to kick around. I said that I would post it for a broader response. 

 

"Rob I would like to get your input on aging cigars. I know some members  vacuum seal their boxes to cut oxygen and airflow in order to improve the long term aging of cigars. I think I can understand that. Could the opposite also apply? Could I put cigars on wire racks, not touching, in a wine fridge with a low intensity active fan. Would that not accelarate aging?"

[NSXCIGAR]

Low ambient airflow: later peak, higher ceiling.

High ambient airflow: earlier peak, lower ceiling

[Ginseng]

Hm, sort of like aerating wine then? Here's my take as a chemical engineer.

Luckily, the broad classes of chemical reactions suspected to take place during aging can be expected to operate in the other direction as well. That is to say:

• Temperature - a general factor that increases the reaction rate as T rises: decrease T to slow down nearly any reaction
• Oxygen - the gas (O2) in air that supports oxidation reactions: increase O2 to speed up oxidation (if that particular reaction exhibits first or second order kinetics)
• Water - the presence generally supports biologic or organic reactions making them possible or faster depending on the reaction: increase RH to speed up reactions or enable them to happen in the first place

So, to  slow down everything possible contributing to the broadly encompassing effect we refer to as "aging" you might, for example:

• Acclimate cigars to 50-55% RH, seal them in an absolute barrier such as a steel storage capsule, and store the entire assembly at 50F, (optionally purge capsule with nitrogen or argon prior to hermetically sealing)

To speed things up:

• Expose all sides of a cigar to a constantly refreshed stream of 75% RH, 85F, air, (add supplemental O2 optional)

What you are actually doing is accelerating the kinetics of the myriad of reactions and processes that would normally take place. What is not guaranteed is that the delicate balance between the products of each parallel or successive reaction or process will remain the same under accelerated or decelerated conditions. That means a 10-year old cigar might not be or perform the same as a cigar accelerated to match whatever criteria counts as "10-years old."

As a thing, aging of cigars strikes me as a far more complex process than UV-induced aging of paint or plastics. Back in the day, we would throw parts in an Atlas Weather-Ometer xenon arc chamber and 3,000 hours later, you'd have a good idea what a part might look like after 10 years in the Texas sun. I don't think it's quite so straightforward with complex organic constructions like a cigar. But the general principle and trends should hold true. 

[BrightonCorgi]

I like the checker board stacking boxes like Portmann does.  He's probably not thinking 20+ years, but more 5-10 and hopefully they've been sold?

You cannot rush aging or it doesn't end well; be it wine, cigars or life.

[rcarlson]

Ginseng sounds like he's hit on an FOH side-by-side experiment with accelerated aging at higher temp, airflow, and RH against a control at static 62/65.    

[Ryan]

It depends what is actually happening when cigars "age".

When you open a box of cigars and get that smell that we all know. The smell is caused by chemicals, keytones, aldehydes, maybe esters given off by the tobacco. Opening the box creates airflow that wafts those molecules to your nose. 

Closing the box again doesn't put them back in the box. 

However, if part of the cigar aging process, that is when they age in a good way, is the natural loss from the tobacco of these compounds, then the aging process would be speeded up by having the cigars loose and a fan over them.

On the other hand, Ketones, aldehydes and other taste and flavour-causing compounds react chemically to produce other compounds over time. Air wouldn't necessarily speed up those reactions (introduction of moisture, alcohol or ammonia probably would), but air could remove any new compounds created.

Personally, and it's just guessing, I think it's better to keep as many of those compounds as close to the cigars as possible for as long as possible (reducing air flow) and letting them do what they do. This is, closed boxes and maybe even sealed storage.

[Puros Y Vino]

@Ginseng's post made me feel smart reading it. 😁  My take is that exposure to air accelerates any natural processes happening in a box of cigars.  Temperature and moisture also play a part.  For most of us that means finding a stable # for either factor and sticking to it.  Limiting air exposure is beneficial and could possibly contribute to "aging".  Cracking open a box now and then may allow various gases to expel as well.  What concerns me most is the loss of oils over time.  Obviously leaving a cigar out in the open, depending on the ambient conditions would rob it of it's water content and it's oils.  So doing the inverse, seeks to keep those conditions in check.  MRN's book touts lower temps and RH as ideal conditions for aging.  Raising those factors lends one to believe that you're cooking or baking out the elements that make a cigar special. I'm not one to vacuum seal but I do have many boxes in Saran Warp to slow down the air and moisture exchange within/out the box.  All my notions about this are observational of course.  And the paranoia of having mold flourish forces me to inspect said boxes every 2 months or so.